Some Perspectives on Strategic Forest Management Models and the Forest Products Supply Chain

The modeling approach used by most organizations to do strategic wood supply analysis usually pays little attention to the location issues that are important to the supply chain. This paper raises questions about the conventional approach and suggests that the strategic linear programming models should contain much more spatial and market information. We point out that there is much more flexibility in sustainable harvests in terms of forest types than is usually recognized. It is possible to exploit this flexibility to gain more flexibility in coordinating spatial harvests with both ecological and supply chain requirements.